7-minute, high-impact demos return for FreightWaves LIVE Chicago

Mark Brewer, head of product innovation for J.B. Hunt, presents the latest updates to his company’s Carrier 360 solution. J.B. Hunt will be among the more than 50 companies presenting demos of their latest technology at this year’s event, FreightWaves LIVE Chicago, on Nov. 12-13, at McCormick Place in Chicago. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

When FreightWaves first announced “Demo Day” at its
inaugural conference, Transparency 18, there was a question as to how many
companies would want to present in the strict 7-minute time slot. Turns out,
there were quite a few, with nearly 30 choosing to demo their latest product in
front of the audience. More than 35 companies showed up at MarketWaves 18 in
the fall of 2018, and that number continued to grow this spring at Transparency
19 with 40 companies – selling out the entire available demo blocks –
presenting.

Since then, FreightWaves has renamed its events business,
but that hasn’t changed the enthusiasm for companies interested in demoing at
FreightWaves LIVE Chicago. In fact, it has only ramped it up. Initially, 40
slots were allocated for Chicago, but those sold out so quickly an additional
16 slots were made available. Those too, are almost gone, with more than two
months to go before the event.

“We introduced the concept of demo day to give companies the
opportunity to show their latest innovations to industry leaders and
investors,” said Arlen Stark of FreightWaves. “Many startup companies looking
to gain a foothold in the industry or to partner with a larger company that can
help them test and commercialize their product have taken advantage of this
unique opportunity. Established companies benefit as well by presenting their
latest innovations in front of more than 1,500 of the leading minds and
decision makers across all modes of the freight ecosystem.”

FreightWaves LIVE Chicago will take place Nov. 12-13, 2019,
at McCormick Place in Chicago, Illinois. Headline sponsor J.B. Hunt 360 is a
previous
Best of Show winner, earning honors at Transparency 19.

The unique demo format restricts companies to 7 minutes on
stage. Most importantly, the product or service must be recently introduced or
soon-to-be introduced and presenters are not allowed to use PowerPoint
presentations – all the demos must be live.

More than 1,500 attendees are expected to attend FreightWaves
LIVE Chicago. In addition to the demos, which will take place across the
two-day conference, attendees will be able to visit the Global
TradeTech Forum, learn about FreightWaves’ SONAR platform at the
SONAR Summit or about Freight Futures at the
Futures Forum.

Brian Straight covers general transportation news and leads the editorial team as Managing Editor. A journalism graduate of the University of Rhode Island, he has covered everything from a presidential election, to professional sports and Little League baseball, and for more than 10 years has covered trucking and logistics. Before joining FreightWaves, he was previously responsible for the editorial quality and production of Fleet Owner magazine and fleetowner.com. Brian lives in Connecticut with his wife and two kids and spends his time coaching his son’s baseball team, golfing with his daughter, and pursuing his never-ending quest to become a professional bowler.